Healer
by Elizabeth Hellbound
Summary: In a world of vampires,and where the humans are hunted a farmed for blood, one surviving human girl has more to offer than these ancient, beautiful creatures ever imagined. But would Annie use that gift for evil if it mean she could have her brother back?
1. Chapter 1

_He had their eyes, their stance, their skin, their arrogance heir and the hunger to kill. It was too much for me and I nearly fell. I stood alone, facing their pale faces, all of them recognizable. I saw Dad, his now cold eyes red instead of the warm blue they'd been only years ago, Mom with her soft golden hair and dark black eyes, Jake, his hard chin, and strong muscles and then…Mary. She was tiny, only to Dad's elbow, with her soft golden hair, just like Mom's, her eyes no longer a warm hazel but a startling black, her skin pasty ivory, her fangs out as she looked at me, hunger in her eyes. I fell to the floor, not wanting to see more. _

I woke was a start, sitting up with a jerk then being thrown back down into my thin pillow. In that moment my head had made contact with the metal bar above me, making a loud 'ping' sound as I'd rebounded. I mumbled some new profanities I'd picked up on in the past few years

The snoring above me gave a little falter but returned to normal. I could see the large hand hanging off the side of the bunk bed, sun browned from the sun, the nails coated with dirt. I snuck a peak and saw Jake sleeping peacefully, his eyelids fluttering with dreams unknown to me. My older brother was the only family I had left and I was lucky. Not everyone could say that.

The air was dry and tasted of dirt. It was morning, it was our safe time. I walked over to a pile of clothes that were folded nearly into two black trash sacks. Mine was the one to the right. I pulled out a pair of ripped jean shorts that just barely fit anymore and a white tank top that was now a fading gray. I found the brush and ripped it through my hair, smiling as I heard the 'snap' of electricity as it smoothed out. My brownish red hair landed somewhere between my shoulder blades and it felt somewhat less than clean. I hadn't taken a bath in days. I'd never had time. _I'll do that today_, I promised myself.

I looked at my tennis shoes in the corner and decided against them, my feet were so tough now-a-days, I hardly ever needed shoes unless we went outside into the blazing sun. I passed through the dark blue curtain that separated out little cave from the rest. My stomach made a painful sound and I was tempted to snag something from the kitchen, but I had a duty to do first.

You're probably wondering what the hell is going on. Well if you can stomach it, I'll tell you. About five years ago, a myth that every teenage girl had fallen for, thanks to books like Twilight and Vampire Academy or True Blood, had come into reality. Yup and let me tell you what a shock it gave the world. Not two seconds after we all realized what had happened the Vamps had taken over and now, the few remaining humans are in hiding. The many that didn't get away either were turned into the undead – not as appealing as the books make it – or farmed for blood at blood factories. I personally can't decide which one was worse…maybe that's why I fled with my family and went into hiding.

So the few humans that did make it out somehow ended up here, in a deserted area, in a giant cave, in what used to be Northern Florida. I was only 8 when this all happened and now I'm 17. I'm one of the few remaining, original cave members. Many have come and gone, some not understanding the danger to be outside, some just dying from the brutal hardships of surviving a vampire infested world. Now you may wonder how I, the short, skittish 17 year old girl from Florida actually survived while many didn't…well I have a sort of…gift. It's really strange and I don't even understand it. Well…I can…heal people. That sounds weird, I know.

I'm not like a doctor, not by far, and I'm not someone who mixes potions and poof. I touch someone, and their sickness/injury is pulled through me and out into oblivion. I'll tell you it comes in handy, but man, is it painful. It's so painful I can only do so many at a time. It takes days to recover and even a week if something was really brutal.

I walked down the silent caves towards the larger cave at the end that had its entrance covered by a light blue piece of fabric that had clearly been drapes in someone's' kitchen. They were light blue with gold sunflowers in different spots. I pushed past them and came into the infirmary. Doc sat at his desk – thought it was really just boxes put on books. Doc's maybe in his early 30s with dark brown hair that had some pieces of gray, with grayish blue eyes and a kind face that would make anyone reassured. Maybe that's why he's a doctor. I know his real name – Terry – but everyone calls him Doc – it has a nice ring to it.

"Morning Annie," he said not even looking up from his thick book. I smiled at him and looked around – seeming to feel the disease in the room.

"Rough night?" I asked glancing over to the cot in the corner of the room. There are only six small cots in the infirmary cave, and they aren't even the least bit comfortable. I could almost feel the pain in the air. Sleeping, rather unsettling, in the corner was the oldest thing in the cave – Doug. His eyelids fluttered – he was dreaming. Small whimpers escaped his pale, dry lips and his fragile hands grabbed at the quilt.

I didn't even look at Doc as I went to stand by Doug. I put my hand in his cold wrinkled hand and collapsed in pain. My knees hit the rock floor with a painful thud; sweat beading my brow, and blazing hot pain flowing through me. It felt like an iron rod had been sitting in fire and was now being pressed upon every single part of my body. I almost lost consciousness but Doc was beside me with an ice cold cloth and that kept me in for a few minutes. I had to be conscious for my 'gift' to work.

And just as quickly as it had come, the pain was fading away into oblivion. I was clutching both Doug's white, wrinkled hand and Doc's firm warm tan hand. He looked at me with concern but I waved him off. I would be fine in a few seconds. And I was. Regardless, I was sore and a little dizzy – but that's the normal side effects. I looked down on Doug and saw his eyelids peaceful and his breathing now even.

I smiled a little. It's always nice to know you did something good for someone else. I clutched my forehead, a headache emerging. I hated when that happened. Sometimes, after a big job, my stupid migraines would get the best of me.

"Annie, maybe you should sit down…" Doc began but I held up my hand, pointing to my stomach. As if planned, my stomach gave a painful noise and I headed off to the kitchen.

"I'll check in on Doug later." I said over my shoulder, although I knew perfectly well that Doug was going to be fine. I'd 'healed' him more times than I can count. That's a downfall of being 80 and trying to survive in caves with 24 other people, but I just couldn't seem to let Doug go.

I found the kitchen in my little state of recovering and saw many unhappy faces. "What's wrong _now_?" I snapped harshly – my head really hurt. Familiar faces turned to me, their eyes full of hunger and exhaustion. "No food?" I guessed looking around at each person. The woman closest to me was a woman in her mid forties, with graying hair and thick eyebrows. Her cheeks seemed to be hollow and her eyes a little too beady and watery for her face.

"Yup and Paul won't go out on a raid." She said rather snottily, as if it was my fault.

"I'll talk to him." I sighed, knowing well enough that nothing I said would pass through Paul's thick skull. Paul was the 'leader' at the moment. His dad, my Uncle had found the caves 11 years ago by accident, about a year before the vamps came out and took over. Lucky enough the caves were ready for anything. Uncle Lenny had been one of those suspicious men who wanted to be prepared for anything and everything. Thanks to his wacky mind, we were still alive and human. Though I'm pretty sure he didn't think the thing that got us to use the caves would be an invasion of vampires either…

Lenny had been a great leader, but not so cautious when on raids. He was caught, taken and farmed for a blood. Leaving Paul feeling like he should take over the job. Surprise surprise, _that _idea didn't turn out too well. Paul wouldn't go on a raid until we absolutely had to, and his definition of 'had to' is 'until we're weeks into starvation' - which apparently isn't too appealing to anyone not named Paul.

This had happened once before – when we got so low on food that we were starving. Without hesitation, my two best friends took a baseball bat to Paul's head, gathered up a group and the gear and came back two days later with food to last us for a year.

Paul was outraged at first, but when I popped a Cheeto bag open in front of him and the cheesy smell waved through the caves he gave in. I had a feeling Charlie and Aiden would once again be summoned, the old wooden baseball bat Charlie had named Ole' Roy, would be pulled out and another raid would be on the way. A few people drifted in and then out when they heard there was no food. I sighed and walked down the caves towards one I spent entirely too much time at.

The old ripped comforter sheet was across their cave entrance. Charlie was still asleep on a thin mattress, giving a visual image of the true meaning of a human pretzel. His butt was in the air, his head turned sideways and off the edge of the mattress, inches from the floor, his arms behind him in an angle that didn't seem humanly possible.

Aiden was awake in his bed, reading a paperback he'd read too many times to count. If I was 13, right now I'd blush as I was looking at Aiden. He was shirtless and man was he one of those men born to be shirtless. His smooth chest was chiseled with muscles that had worked harder than any other for the past 10 years.

Aiden was considered good looking for sure, with his dark brown, tousled hair, thick eyebrows and dark hazel eyes with natural long lashes, golden, clear skin and muscles as if made by a sculptor. But I'm 17 now and I've seen enough shirtless men to last me a life time – the caves get plenty hot in the daytime. "Morning Annie," Aiden said without looking up and turning a page in his book. I rolled my eyes and walked to his side of the bed.

Charlie was snoring loudly and I couldn't seem to help myself, I grabbed Aiden's book from his hands and chucked it at Charlie's head. He fell off hitting the floor with a thud, and snorting out of his snores screaming "Kelly Clarkson!" I smiled and so did Aiden, both of us rolling our eyes. "Jesus Christ Annie." Charlie said rubbing his head.

"We've got a problem." I said, ignoring Charlie.

"Out of food?" Aiden asked sighing, though he already knew the answer.

"What gave it away?" I asked.

"You're stomach," he said. He threw the sheets off him and as he swung his legs over the bed my stomach made another painful noise and I closed my eyes tight.

"Guess it's time to bring out Ole' Roy," Charlie said glancing to the corner of the room where the wooden bat stood. I tried not to smile. I _sooo _called it!

"Yea, we won't last much longer." I said remembering the pale and hollow faces in the kitchen not ten minutes ago.

"Well then we'll leave at dawn." Aiden said, throwing on a pair of torn jeans and a tight white t-shirt that left nothing to the imagination. "Charlie, me, Craig, Jake and you." Aiden said smiling down at me.

"Me?" I asked raising an eyebrow as the same time Charlie asked "Her?" I gave Charlie a look first.

"I got nothin' against you Annie, you know that, but you haven't been on a raid since your Daddy was alive." I blinked away the memory from earlier.

"Well I guess it's time to get back out there, in it?" Aiden asked, rolling up his jeans to his knees.

"Yea, whatever." Charlie said throwing on some old basketball shorts, and a red shirt. "I signed up for duty all day in the crops."

"Me too," I said, running my hand over my forehead. I still had a headache from Doug's healing. His illness had been a real doozy on me. Aiden seemed to notice.

"You okay about goin' back out?" He asked.

"Yea, I just healed Doug again and I swear he's getting worse."

"You gonna be okay for tonight?" Charlie asked looking at me. "I mean I love you Annie and I want you with us, but if you're gonna…like keel over…I don't want you with us."

"No, no I'll be fine." I said quickly. I wanted to see the sun and I hadn't been up in months.

"Okay, well I'm headed to duty, you with me Annie?" Charlie asked.

"Yea, comin'."

"See you two at dawn, if not earlier." Aiden said walking the opposite direction.

Charlie and I walked through the caves, waving at people as we passed. When we came to the crop cave it was like I was slapped with heat. Charlie had already stuffed the end of his shirt into his back pocket. People were already working and I waved at Libby, Paul's wife, who was working in the corner. It doesn't make sense that we were out of food when we had a crop cave, but recently the crops haven't been doing too well.

The crop cave was near the entrance. There were glass panels for the ceiling that was hidden well enough by surrounding trees and couldn't be spotted at night – which is only when they would be. They reflected the light in and on the crops, making the room extra hot and dry.

Charlie smiled at me as he tossed me a pick. We were going to tear up the rough dirt today. I caught it one handed and he wiggled his eyebrows. "Let's get workin'." He said. I rolled my eyes, knowing today was going to be long.

By noon I could have collapsed, but I kept going. I still had five hours. Other people had been working with us in the morning, but most had left to go try and find some scrap of food or to take a bath. Jake came in around 1, his jeans rolled up like Aiden's had been, he also shirtless like Charlie. My brother wasn't as filled out as Aiden and Charlie had been, but he's also younger. He's 18, only a year older than me, but has nothing to complain about body wise.

He got to work beside us, hacking at the tough dirt. My arms went too quick and sure. I was fast, but Jake and Charlie were the muscle. Their muscles contorted as they worked and my skinny arms flexed and unflexed. It was 3 and I collapsed as we finished. I fell into our last patch of dirt and sighed, just laying there, and letting the sun's heat warm me up.

"We're leaving at dawn." Charlie said to Jake as he collapsed next to me.

"Who's gonna get Paul?" Jake asked casually.

"Aiden or me," Charlie said smiling at memories of last time. My tank top was drenched with sweat, dirt sticking to my wet neck and back, my legs out flat with cramps and my back cramping and uncramping from leaning over so much. My hands looking permanently imprinted and coated with dirt.

"I'm going to go take a bath, and then get some sleep before we have to leave." I said unable to move. For a few minutes I just lay there, my eyelids fluttering.

"You're going?" Jake asked as if he just realized that.

"Yup." I still couldn't stand. I sighed and pushed myself up with all my might. "Kay, wake me before we leave." I said, heading towards the bathing caves. The bathing cave was nothing more than a big dent in the floor that happened to have a small stream flowing through the bottom of it. It fills up and carries the dirt of everyone away and comes out on the other side of the caves. It's too small for anyone to fall through but big enough to get your foot or hand caught in it – which I learned the hard way, Charlie had dared me when I was 8.

No one else was there – thankfully – so I stripped down to nothing and slipped into the warm water. There wasn't much light in the bath cave except the few battery lamps we were able to put up. There were lots of soap bars on the side, homemade by Doc. They didn't smell like vanilla and they left you feeling like you just rubbed your skin raw, but dammit it cleaned like there was no tomorrow. I scrubbed my hair clean and felt my scalp tingle, my finger nails were actually clean and my skin felt squeaky clean. I washed my tank and shorts too, throwing on my bra and panties wet. I walked back to my cave like that.

When you've lived in a cave for 10 years, you forget the little awkward things that used to be socially unacceptable, like walking around mostly naked after a bath with about 24 other people awake that wasn't your family. But it didn't matter. I nodded to a few people who I passed and I got some uncomfortable stares from a few men but they looked away.

I'm only 17 but I might as well be 25. I'll fully developed with curves in all the right places, light reddish brown hair, big blue eyes and freckled skin. If you asked me the thing I missed most about human life I'd say shaving cream and razors. I hated my hairy legs, but when you're worried about food and surviving the night, you're usually don't think about that kind of thing. Jake wasn't in our room and I was thankful. My clothes were about dry so I threw on my shorts, a dry black tank top and white buttoned down cotton shirt over and left it open. I laced up my tennis shoes, so I wouldn't have to later.

I collapsed onto the bed and sighed in relief as sleep came. I dreamt of my life 10 years ago before anything was wrong with the world. Jake and I had a great life. The two loving parents, Dad was a mechanic, Mom an elementary school teacher. We had a border collie named Jack that just loved me to death and growled at anyone who he didn't know that came to close to me.

I dreamt of our house, the white picket fence from behind Mom and little Mary would garden near as Jake and I would kick around a soccer ball, with Jack going after either of us that had the ball. Then my dream took an unwanted turn. Mom was still gardening and the sky darkened. Jake and I played, as did Jack but it was like everything went dim, and then the vamps attacked. I forced myself awake before I had to watch how my mother died, how Jack was slaughtered and drained.

Jake was leaning over me and I nearly screamed, but instead fell back crying. "Annie, are you okay?" he asked, leaning closer. Instead of answering him I just pulled him into a tight hug and held on. He hugged back, probably just guessing I was having an emotional kind of day, or that I was PMSing.

Charlie, Aiden and Craig were waiting in the kitchen, Charlie having a too happy of a grin on his face. I was guessing he had taken out Paul. He smiled brightly at me and I rolled my eyes. "You get way too much enjoyment out of that." I said and he just smiled larger.

"You feelin' okay?" Aiden asked looking me over. I nodded, remembering earlier. "I forgot to check back on Doug." I said about to turn around and swing by the infirmary.

"He's fine." Doc said and I noticed him walking in.

"Watcha doin' here Doc?" Jake asked.

"Don't act like you forgot I need to do look over on each raid member." He said, starting with me who was the closest. He pressed lightly on my temples, did the knee reflex test and check my pupils and breathing. He did that to everyone but I was pretty sure I was the cause for the 'check up'.

"Okay, dawns almost here, so let's get to the jeep and head into town." Aiden said clapping his hands together. The caves were giant, and covered at least half a mile in all. The main exit was past the crop cave, had to crawl through a low ceiling tunnel and then we were greeted by the light sky getting brighter and brighter.

It was a cool morning and I stopped behind everyone to breathe in the fresh air. Its Florida so it was a little humid but I think it was early November so there was a slight nip in the air. I looked behind me and couldn't even see the entrance that was hidden but bushes. We were somewhere in the woods, about an hour from Orlando. We had a huge jeep hidden by bushes, tree limbs, thousands of leaves and pine needles. It was painted with mud so if any vamp came along it they would think it was from back in the old days when humans were still the greater species in number.

My feet crunched against the grass and on pine cones. I was the in the very back with no seatbelt since I was the smallest of the group. Aiden drove, Jake next to him and Charlie and Craig in the backseat. Aiden started the car and it hesitated for a moment but finally started. "Maybe we should get a new jeep sometime." Craig suggested giving the old car a glare.

"Yea, because a stolen car from a dealership isn't gonna scream 'humans'." I muttered – is it considered a mutter if everyone can hear your. Craig gave me a cold look and I returned it. I'd never been too big of a fan of Craig. He was huge, mean, ruthless and selfish. Honestly, he scared the hell out of me.

"Annie's right." Aiden said before Craig could say something mean. "We'll look into it when we need to."

"You're starting to sound like Paul." Jake said smiling. We all gave a small laugh and then we were quiet as Aiden drove. It's always unnerving to be outside – especially for a human. It's like we lost our world and now we were unwanted – which is actually true, but it's weird to look at a town and world you grew up in and loved and realized it was no longer yours to love. It's a very depressing thought.

Of course not everyone in the caves came from somewhere in Florida. Only, Jake, me, Paul and Libby came from Florida. Aiden was from Louisiana, as was Charlie – they had worked together at a construction site. Craig and Doug were from Texas. Doc came all the way from Virginia, as did a few others. I knew Karrie, a woman about 32 who worked in the crop cave a lot came from Arkansas; everyone came from every other place. I wondered if there were any surviving humans over in Europe or Asia or even Haiti. Not many people liked to talk about their lives before the Vamp Revelation, but every now and then people would go all nostalgic and feel like sharing their past lives, either that or we'd bring home a few cases of beer and people wouldn't realize what they were saying.

We drove for an hour and finally, around five drove past the first few businesses. It was eerie to see all the huge buildings dark and cold. I pictured the dangerous, old, powerful vamps asleep somewhere dark and shuddered. The streets were deserted and it felt like a true ghost town.

We stopped in near a grocery store that had lots of windows so the sun would be shining in no matter what. "Who wants to stay in the car?" Aiden asked. There was silence; no one liked the stay alone, even if it was the middle of the day. "I will," Craig said reluctantly. "But that means next stop I get to go in." Everyone nodded them filed out, except for Craig who climbed up to the front seat. He loaded a gun with wooden bullets, cocked it back and winked at me.

I ignored him and Aiden handed me a shotgun that was already loaded. He looked at me with a questioning look. "I know how to work a gun." I said amused. He nodded.

"Just makin' sure," He said giving me a wink too. Aiden nodded to Craig and we broke into the grocery store. It surprised me that grocery stores were still around. Aiden explained that newly turned vamps still liked to eat, even though it didn't do diddly squat. We took some of everything that was necessary. Lots of non perishables, some delicacies like turkey or white whole bread, even a carton of milk that would last a day. I threw like ten boxes of tampons into a bag and the guys looked at me and I just raised an eyebrow. They might not see the necessity but the women back at the caves would.

We were out in less than an hour with only a few bags of things. We couldn't take a lot from one place or the vamps would start getting suspicious. For all they knew, the human race was gone. We loaded into the car. The doors hadn't been locked since vamps didn't have to worry about that during the day. Then we were off to another store. We stopped at Wal-Mart and I loaded up on shaving cream and razors to my amusement. Again more food, ingredients to make bread back at the caves.

Being in Wal-Mart was a little unnerving. There weren't windows everywhere so there were some spots of the store that we refused to enter. We were walking by the clothes department and I looked down at my own. _Later _I told myself with a sigh. The guys were oblivious to their clothing, as long as they had pants, underwear and shoes they were fine. We threw a few boxes of body soap and shampoo into the bags and I smiled, thinking about the nice bath I would take tonight. Again our bag was full and we headed back to the car.

We were headed out the door and I heard a creak that made my heart jump and all the guys whirled around. I didn't know why they did because I started sprinting towards the door. "Sun," I called without looking back at them and they were after me, making for the light of day that meant safety. My heart was pounding as we got back to the car and Jake – who had stayed behind – was looking at us with a horror in his eyes.

"False alarm." I told him since I got there first. He sighed in relief and we went on. We gave in around three and picked up some premade sandwiches at one of the stores and soda. I jugged my soda, forgetting how much I use to love it. Jake had five cans of Rootbeer and I had three of Dr. Pepper. We ate in a short amount of time and went on. We picked up lots of bed sheet and we knew people would be happy, some towels, even a new huge pot to make stew in.

Craig, Jake and I were in the shadows of a building with a bag full of batteries, outside a large building that must have held offices. I stopped cold looking around. "An-" Jake started to say put I pulled him back into the building, pushed him and Craig down the stairs and ordered them to run and find a place to hide. They did without hesitating and I ran back outside. Aiden and Charlie were in the car talking casually. I shooed them with my hands indicating to get moving.

"Night dawn." I said, hitting the car. They both gave me a horrified look and looked around and spotted the sun…setting on the horizon.

"Get in!" Aiden yelled but I was already running back to the building. Jake was in there and if this was it I was going out with him. I heard the jeep screech and reviewed my instructions. 'Night dawn' meant get out and be back here after dawn, no earlier. I swear I heard footsteps but I didn't stop running. My breathing was heavy as I reached the basement. I heard something move in the corner and I was about to scream when something pulled me and we were running.

I think I heard a door open and I almost squeaked but Jake's hand was over my mouth. His hand didn't cover my nose and I smelled something almost metallic, the scent hung in the air and clung to my senses. I thought I knew the smell but we were already past and Jake had pushed me into a small room that had lots of boxes in it that looked to be filled with mechanical looking devices. Jake pushed me into a corner where a tarp was covering boxes. He pushed me under the tarp, where Craig already was and shoved in behind me, pulling a box back into place. Jake held me tight, covered my mouth to try and calm down my breathing. I put my head on Jake's chest just as the lights came on and cold voices started talking casually. The Vamps had risen.

You can imagine how uncomfortable it is to be squished in between two huge guys, one who you despise and feel very uncomfortable being near, and both are sweaty and smell like they'd just gotten back from a whole day of running. I almost had a panic attack when I worried about the smell. I didn't dare warn Craig and Jake, because my voice would be heard and we'd be dead – literally.

I tried to tell Jake with my eyes but he was so still he didn't dare move. Craig was the same way, so I settled down so uncomfortably for a long night. I could still smell that familiar smell and it was killing me. I spent the first two hours trying to figure out what it was. Finally, I heard no voices, only the sound of machines working. Somehow, Jake and Craig were passed out and asleep. Thankfully Jake wasn't snoring like he usually did.

My back was cramped and my legs were being bent in an uncomfortable position, I took a deep breath and snuck out of the tarp. I lay frozen on the hard, tile floor for a whole minute, analyzing anything. Well, we'd picked the best place to hide, that's for sure. There wasn't a vamp in sight. We were in a small side room that had half a wall and the other half from my waist up was glass. This was meant to be a viewing room. Slowly, I walked forward to see what was on the other side – praying it wasn't something horrifying. Knowing my luck, I'd be wrong, and _boy _was I wrong.

On the other side of the glass seemed to be a huge room that went down 100s of feet, and up hundreds of feet. It was wide, huge and held hundreds of mechanical things that had five almost harness like structures on a pole. I almost threw up I was so disgusted. In the harnesses were naked humans, skinny, ghostly pale and barely alive.

I'd heard of the factories that farmed blood, but I'd never in my entire life imagined seeing one from the other side. There were thousands of humans, all almost hollow and only barely alive. They had to be alive for them to still be farming them. Once they're drained they throw them out – or so I assume. Each human had a huge needle in both of their arms, one in their neck and one on their inner thigh.

I couldn't look away, it was so horrifying. I don't know how long I stood there, looking at each one. I prayed that the next one I looked at wouldn't be someone I knew, but my luck ran out and I nearly fainted. A middle aged man somewhere to my right was someone I recognized. He had pale blonde hair and freckles across his nose. His sharp nose and chin were the only things that made me recognize him. He'd lived in the caves not till too long ago, when he'd been out on a raid and hadn't made it to back to the car. I was shocked almost back to last week when I recognized the woman beside him….my kindergarten teacher. Honestly I thought she'd have been with the first group of drained, but hey I guess Miss Stemflower had more in her than I thought.

I heard something behind me and I did a floor kick and knocked both Craig and Jake to the floor. Still none of us spoke, but I said my apology by helping them up and pleading with my eyes. Jake just nodded understanding – he would have done the same thing. Craig just rubbed his arm that had hit the floor hard.

My eyes were still red from the silent tears from seeing the farmed humans. Jake and Craig saw everything and walked up to the glass. Craig put his hand against the glass and I followed his now red rimmed eyes to a beautiful blonde haired girl that looked tiny and like a dead angel. I made a mental note to ask Jake later, because his eyes were filled with understanding.

He looked around and saw the middle aged man I'd known too, Stanly I think his name had been. We stared at the humans for hours. No one came and no voices could be heard. We heard a door being opened and we jumped, reflexes making us duck and hide behind the half wall that wasn't see through. When we'd been looking around I hadn't missed the room that we'd passed through. It looked like a conference room with a large oval table and about ten chairs.

The three of us moved from our positions – that could be seen if a vamp was to look through the door. There was a window connecting the two rooms and we hid under that. We could hear their voices through the door, not two feet away.

"It is complete. Nothing has been tested yet of course, but Devon here has taken one and we can now do a physical evaluation." A deep, cool voice said.

"Very good Loren," said another blood churning voice – though I will admit from a woman's stand point it was kind of a sexy cold voice. "Devon how do you feel?" Mr. Sexy-voice asked.

"I feel fine." A rather normal voice said. I came to a quick evaluation in my head. The older a vamp is the more cold their voice sound. Mr. Sexy-cold-voice must be an older vamp, probably a vamp centuries before the Revelation. This new voice – Devon – must have been recently turned, at least in the past decade.

"Nothing unusual happening? You're not drowsier earlier, no weakness?" Mr. Sexy-voice asked.

"No, your majesty, I feel absolutely normal." Devon said. "Well as normal as a vampire can feel I suppose." He added. There was a cold chuckle that sounded even sexier – probably Mr. Sexy-Voice finding something humorous.

"You will get used to being a vampire Devon soon enough. These first few years are always the hardest." Mr. Sexy-voice said. "Now, as far as testing the experiment, Loren, what makes you think this pill will help us conquer the sun?" If Craig, Jake and I had been moving we would have stopped dead, I know my heart did. Walk in the sun, vamps? That is not good, not good one bit.

I looked at Jake and he nodded – understanding the risk. He looked at Craig and shifted his head to nod towards the window. Craig nodded solemnly in a way that said 'here goes nothing'. I held my breath as Craig rose up every so slowly, just to wear he could see over and through the window and into the conference room.

I watched Craig and his face change, from the cautious expression to the confused, almost horrified look. He didn't come back down, just merely sat there watching as the voices went on.

"Our skin and cells are allergic to UVRays, so this puts some of those UVRays into our bloodstream and settles into our skin. It gives our skin an almost creamy cover – almost like sun screen." The man – Loren – said. Craig still didn't come back down. I looked at Jake confused and he shrugged. I tugged on Craig's shirt and he didn't budge.

Sighing inaudibly I risked it. I rose slightly and followed Craig's gaze to a blonde haired vampire man who was looking straight at him. His pupils were dilated and I understood immediately. Vampires had this mind control thing and this vampire was using it on Craig, for some reason unknown.

I pulled Craig but he didn't budge. If we made any more movements the vamps would sense it, but I cursed under my breath and slapped Craig hard against the cheek. He fell away, grabbed his gun and all of us were on the move, heading the opposite way.

"We can't outrun vamps." I said matter-of-factly to Jake as we were running through an empty hallway. Honestly I was surprised we'd gotten this far. We took a right and Jake and I slid down the staircase banister as Craig skipped three at a time, we took a right into a doorway and I nearly stopped dead, but Jake moved me along hitting the hilt of gun to my elbow. We'd entered the farming room. I half closed my eyes so I didn't have to look at the bodies. We ran straight for the door on the other side, I could almost sense the vampires waiting. "Stop!" I told Craig and Jake and they obeyed – now was a time to trust.

"They're waiting for us." I told them. We took a few steps backwards and I bumped into someone. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply. The smell of death was in the air. I shuddered. It was cold in here. The vamps must have turned down the temp to at least 30 degrees; it was like an ice box. Good bumps came everywhere. I was wearing my jean shorts, a black tank top and a white buttoned down shirt opened rolled up to my elbows. I wore my two bracelets on my right wrist. One had been from my Mom – everyone in my family had one – Jake was wearing an identical one, and then one from my best friend back when everything was normal. Thankfully my hair was up and out of my face, except for my side bangs.

I'd have given anything right now to know Melanie was safe – she'd been wearing an identical bracelet to mine – but I was almost sure if I tried I'd find her here somewhere. I had a two pistols tucked into each side of my shorts, loaded with wooden bullets. I had more ammo in my back pockets and in the breast pocket on my white opened shirt.

The three of us stood in the very middle of the room, all of our gun cocked. I felt my shorts and sighed in relief a little to feel the two wooden stakes I had stuffed in my belt loops. My shirt covered them. Jake had his tucked into his boots, Craig's in his belt loops as well. I still had the backpack we'd used to gather batteries on my back. "What do we do now?" I asked them.

"I honestly have absolutely no idea." Jake said looking around, holding his gun in front of him. I held a pistol, my right hand holding it my index finger on the trigger, my left hand holding my right wrist like I'd been taught.

"Stay alive till morning." Craig said swinging around to check the area. I rolled my eyes.

"No shit Sherlock." I snapped harshly. Jake smiled. That had been our favorite phrase a few years ago.

"If you've got any better ideas princess…" Craig said not looking at me.

"Princess? Oh whatever Shrek!" I yelled angrily. I glared at Craig. I hated when guys called me princess. Does a princess hunt vampires and live in caves with no razors or bathe every other day and work in the fields sweating like a pig? I don't think so. "They're going to come in if we don't move soon. And then we'll be sitting ducks." I said glancing around. There weren't any vamps in sight, but I knew they'd be outside the doors, waiting. I didn't understand why there weren't in here already.

"We could split up." Craig said looking around. "There are three exits…"

"Not even when hell freezes over. Either we all get out or we don't get out at all." Jake said still looking every which way. Then they dropped from above, like avenging angels. I was thrown backwards. I shot once and the bullet hit the dark haired vamp in the shoulder. Again I shot and this one hit him square in the chest. He went down I ran past him. I shot one in the back that was on Jake. We ran towards the exit that was nearest us and shot at a vamp that was on Craig.

Together we burst through the door and trudged down the hall. Vampires are incredibly fast, almost faster than light. Once again I was tripped and vamp was on me, his fangs shot out and he bent down. I was able to wiggle out a stake and I got him in the heart. Jake pulled the vamp off me and I left my stake, no time to pull it out.

We were in the reception area and were almost near the door when three vamps flew into our way. Craig instantly shot at a blonde haired guy, the one that had been hypnotizing him earlier. That vamp went down like a rock, his skin crumbling into ash. I'd read about that. The older a vamp is the faster they disintegrate. Blondie must have been centuries old.

The woman that had been in the middle came at me, biting at my neck like a ravenous dog. Jake somehow managed to throw her off me, but she had already gotten a nice chunk out of my shoulder. I didn't care. My wounds healed amazingly fast, and within a moment only dried blood was a trace of the bite. The blonde woman went at Jake, broke his hand by stepping on it and bit his neck. "Jake!" I shot Blondie in the back and she fell over. I'd missed her heart but I didn't care. I shot her again, but Craig had slung Jake over his shoulder and was booking it towards the door. As we ran I touched my hand over Jake's and I felt my own hand go numb.

A throbbing pain made me grunt in pain, but it went away quickly and Jake flexed his hand without pain and smiled a little at me. I then focused on his neck. Something tripped me and I shot my gun again, making the vamp pursing me stumble. I was up and after Craig. Amazingly my heart leapt as I saw the sky. It was lightening up, the sun just barely being seen, but it could be seen and that's what mattered. I looked around and saw that a few vamps were going to test the sun.

Before I saw it, the red jeep zoomed around the corner and skidded to a stop. Aiden and Charlie looking beat up and tired. "Come on!" They both yelled and Craig threw the wounded Jake into the back and I hoped in after them. I saw a familiar dark haired vampire step into the sun and watched as his skin sizzled and cracked, turning black. He stepped back into the shadows and growled at the sun. The pill hadn't worked.

I moved my attention to Jake, touched his neck and watched as it healed, the skin came together and the blood around it drying. Jake fainted then, most likely from the blood loss. I look back as Aiden pushed down fast on the gas pedal. There were a few vampires still in the shadows watching after us. One with dark brown hair was looking at my hand and I realized he'd seen me healing. That could not be good. I moved my hand so to get his attention and very tiredly and happily flipped him the bird.

We were around the corner and out of sight, but not before I saw the vampire smile. Chills ran down my spine and arms. Nothing good could come out of today. Aiden floored it and we headed towards the cave that I hoped would be able to provide safety.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:

"Annie, Annie, wake up." Aiden's cool hand was a huge contrast to my heated skin and the sweat that was like beads clinging to my skin. I woke with a start, his hazel eyes full of worry. "We're home." He said and I heard the exhaustion in his voice.

I was the only one left in the car. Everything was already being delivered back down to the caves, and Aiden needed to go and park the car and paint it with mud and nature like we had to after every raid.

Aiden helped me stand and I jumped out of the back of the jeep on sore, jello-like legs. It was around six in the morning and the sun was rising slowly. "You gonna be okay to get back in?"Aiden asked looking at me with a raised eyebrow. Normally people didn't treat me like a little kid and I figured I had to look like hell or Aiden wouldn't have offered – honestly I didn't feel any better than I looked.

"I'll be fine," I said closing my eyes and rubbing my face. "Thanks." I added as I followed a person unloading stuff back into the caves. I clutched the backpack on my back that held the many batteries and smiled at my contribution of carrying things back down. Everyone met in the kitchen to look at the luxuriates we'd brought back.

The food had already been put away in the counters, and now people were deciding what to do with the hygiene products. When it got around that I'd brought back women necessities I got so many thank you's I didn't know what to do with myself.

Everyone agreed to put the hygiene things like tampons, soap, towels, toilet paper, shampoo etc. back in the bath cave. For the sheets and blankets we were going to clean the dirtiest sheets in the cave and give the new ones to those people and then give the recently cleaned ones to the people who didn't get new ones after they'd been washed.

A few of the women were getting a group together to go to the bathing cave – I guess that little quirk about women didn't die alongside humanity; they still didn't want to go to the bathroom alone. I smiled thinking about that. Libby asked if I wanted to come along and I couldn't have said yes any faster.

She smiled and we walked to the bathing cave with three other women. Libby was only 21 and she and Paul had been best friends in school, thus when they were old enough they got married down in the caves – there was this whole big ceremony. She'd been at his house with Uncle Lenny the day the vamps attacked, therefore got here with nothing but the clothes on her back and the little teddy bear she'd always carried around back then.

The three other women that were with us, I didn't talk to very often. It's funny to think that even with only 24 people there were still cliques. I was basically the tomboy, hanging out with the guys mostly – Jake, Aiden and Charlie. While Libby, Claudine, Gretta and Sasha were the 'preppies'. Libby was the nicest of the group, and she liked me since I was Paul's cousin. Claudine was small, blonde, 25 and always looked like she smelt something bad. Gretta was okay; she was African American with her dark hair always in corn rows and mostly kept to herself if she wasn't with the other three.

Now, Sasha was a whole different story. If she had an opinion she would make it known and when she wanted information she never gave up. Apparently rules of etiquette didn't apply to her. She was tall, with corn wheat colored hair and dark brown eyes. We walked mostly in silence, Libby and I did, Claudine, Gretta and Sasha were talking about how good looking Aiden was and hushed when Libby walked up with me. I rolled my eyes. I was sure going to tell Aiden tonight.

We made it to the bathing cave with the new amazing soaps, shaving cream and shampoo. My legs were so soft I almost cried, my armpits were no longer dark and fuzzy and I even got the few hairs in between my eyebrows. I scrubbed my hair with the strawberry scented shampoo and sighed and I lathered on the soft body wash. I wrapped myself with the towel and decided I didn't want to take it off.

Libby offered to braid my hair – which I hadn't done since I was seven. She braided it and I felt how soft my hair was. My skin actually felt soft – not raw – and my legs…oh my legs. I couldn't be happier at the moment. I walked back to my cave in the new fluffy towel. I found some brown cargo shorts I'd been saving for a special occasion, and a pink tank top and light white jacket. I caught my reflection in a small mirror in our room and I looked different…I looked like a girl! I can't count how many times I rubbed my smooth legs – call me obsessive.

I walked down the hall barefooted to check on Doug. Doc was giving him a checkup and he looked very healthy, his skin even seemed to glow. "Why my stars, Annie, you look pretty." Doug said in his thick Texan accent. I blushed and smiled at him, leaning on the wall next to Doc.

"Thanks Doug, we go new stuff on the raid. How you feelin'?" I asked him, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Much better, thanks to you. I do appreciate your help Miss Annie." He said smiling at me with his toothy grin. I smiled back.

"It's my pleasure Doug." I said.

I looked down at Doc who was kneeling next to Doug and he was smiling at me with a look in his eye that I had to look away. "Well Doug," Doc said looking away. "You're as healthy as a horse and as strong as an ox. If you feel anything in a few days come back, but you're good to go." Doc said smiling. Doug smiled, stood and walked out, giving me a peck on the cheek.

"Until next time," Doc muttered when Doug was gone. I sighed.

"How long you give him this time?" I asked.

"A few weeks," Doc said sighing and collapsing into his desk chair. He looked exhausted.

"We're having a big lunch to celebrate the raid later." I said thinking about the milk and bread. Doc looked up at me with a serious look. His gray blue eyes filled with concern.

"Is it true?" He asked me.

I sighed; gossip spreads like mold in these caves. "Is what true?" I asked thinking of all the possible pieces of news Doc wanted to know about.

"Craig told me that the vamps had been testing a pill that will allow them to walk in the sun."Doc said looking at me with such seriousness it was like he'd just asked if I'd committed first degree murder.

"Yes it's true, I heard it." Doc sighed and flopped his head in his hands. "But I also saw firsthand that it didn't work." Doc's head perked up a little.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"The vamps came after us, but they sizzled." Memories flashes of only hours ago and I blinked a number of times trying to blink away the tears when I thought of the humans that still hung up being farmed. I stood and started to walk out but Doc caught me and pulled me into a hug. Doc's fairly tall and I'm fairly short. My head met his chest and his arms encircled me.

"Annie, what happened?" He asked as my tears started and soaked into his shirt.

I sniffled and Doc sat me down on one of the cots nearest us. "We were hiding in a farming factory." I said and Doc stiffened. "I saw Stanly, you know the nice guy went on the raid last year and didn't make it back. I saw my kindergarten teacher, Terry, she was just hanging there, naked and empty…" It had been the first time I called Doc Terry, ever. I cried into him and he just held me.

We were interrupted a few minutes later when Charlie, Aiden and Craig came in. "Hey, Annie, sorry to ask, but we got pretty banged up during the raid and we were wonderin…" And Doc was up.

"You three need to get. Can't you tell something's wrong with Annie? She's not your little personal nurse who's gonna help you every time you have a bruise. Now get goin and rub some dirt on it like real men!" Doc snapped. The three guys looked taken aback and it made me laugh. I laughed really hard. The expression on their faces and Doc's outburst was just hilarious. I'd never heard Doc say something that long in one short breath.

Aiden looked at me with a cocked eyebrow as did Charlie, Craig just looked shocked. They looked at me pleading with their eyes. "Doc's right," I said. "I'm pretty upset and my healing doesn't work too well when I'm upset."

"Well what's wrong?" Craig asked harshly and got rewarded with a punch in the shoulder and one in the jaw by Aiden and Charlie.

"Sorry Annie, we know that must have been hard. We'll see you at lunch." Charlie said and he and Aiden took Craig by the arm and walked out of the infirmary. Doc came and sat beside me again.

"You didn't have to do that." I said smiling at him and wiping away the extra tears.

"Yea I did, some people take you for granted Annie. I just want them to know it's your choice to heal people when you do." I gave Doc a hug and stood. I wiped away the rest of the tears that remained on my cheeks.

"Thanks a lot Doc." I said and gave him a peck on the cheek. Jake was in our cave, doodling in his sketchbook on the top bunk. He smiled at me. His hair actually had some gold in it and his skin was an attractive gold tan.

"You feelin' okay?" He asked closing his book.

"Yea, I'm fine." I said diving into my bunk and breathing in deeply. I did a double take and looked at my sheets. I'd gotten a new set.

"Aiden and Charlie put those on a few minutes ago." Jake said not even have seen my expression. I smiled and snuggled into the new sheets and clean fluffy pillow. I dozed off and woke during the evening. I could tell because it was darker in the caves and cooler – it was nighttime. I shivered and remembered the vamps couldn't have seen the way we went to get here – they couldn't have. Aiden and Charlie came in then, carrying three trays of food.

"Ah and awakes our Sleeping Beauty." Charlie said handing me a tray of food that had sandwich with turkey, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and mayo.

"Oh my God." I said as I took a bite. Aiden tossed me a bag of crunchy Cheetos and a can of Dr. Pepper. "I've died and gone to heaven." I said as I popped open the can and took a swig. Charlie and Aiden chuckled and we all dug in.

I slept more soundly than I had in a long while. I woke only during the middle of the night, a few hours before morning and Mother Nature was calling. I left Jake and mine cave with one of Jake's large blue hoodies and some white and blue plaid cotton shorts I'd snagged at one of the stores.

My socked feet made a soft 'thud' as I walked from the bathing cave – there's a side room that we use for the restroom – when I felt a sudden break in the air. If we'd been anywhere than underground I'd have assumed it was a breeze in the air, but we _were _down underground.

Looking around, I held my breath. Another 'breeze' and I was off running. Maybe I was just paranoid, but I wanted to be a safe paranoid. I skidded to a halt when I neared my cave. I couldn't hear snoring… Bursting through our curtain, my eyes scanned the room. Nothing was out of place, except Jake…he wasn't in his bed.

"Jake?" I called. No answer. I knew something bad was happening – I just didn't know what. I went to the only person that would believe me. "Aiden," I said harshly, pushing him as my feet tried to stop but instead I just tripped over the paper back book on the floor. "Aiden," I said again, getting to my feet not thinking of my skinned and bruised knees that were healing as I pushed Aiden again. He muffled something into his pillow. "Aiden, please, it's Jake." He woke a little more. "Aiden!" I screamed loudly, grabbing the sides of his sleepy face and shaking him.

"Annie?" he asked, half asleep.

"Aiden, come on, something's wrong. Jake isn't in his bed." I said, pleading.

"Maybe he's in the bathroom." Aiden said rolling over and pulling the warm quilt towards him.

"Aiden, no!" I screamed pulling the quilt away from him.

"What the hell Annie?" Charlie asked from his bed, looking over and rubbing his eyes.

"Aiden, _please_!" I begged, on the verge of tears. If Aiden wouldn't wake his lazy ass up and help me, no one would.

"Annie, Jake's a big boy, he can take care of himself." Aiden said to my disbelief. "But if it'll make you feel better, we'll walk through the caves and find him." He said slowly standing and pulling on a hoddie too.

"Bloody hell it's cold." Charlie said following Aiden's lead.

"Come on," I said pulling on Aiden's sleeve like I was five years old.

Aiden still wasn't fully awake. "He's not in your cave…so…"

"We need to check on Craig." I said positive. If it was what I thought it was, Craig wouldn't be any safer than Jake – neither would I.

"Whatever Annie," Aiden said, his eyelids fluttering. He wasn't fully awake, which means he wasn't himself. We took off from their cave, my socks utterly dark with dirt now, my neck beaded with dots of anxious sweat and my legs overcrowded with goose bumps that told me something had been in the caves. Craig's cave was in the next hall to the left of Aiden's. He didn't share a cave with anyone – which just happened to be God damn convenient.

Charlie was ahead of us. When he woke he was up and going like he'd already had five cups of coffee. He stopped outside Craig's entrance that was covered by what used to be an old oak door. Now it was a light, rotted brown with holes in many places. Charlie knocked on it.

"There won't be an answer," I muttered to myself. I was right – there was no answer. Charlie sighed and pulled the old door aside for us. There had been no smell, so none of us were prepared for what we saw.

Craig lay in his bed, alone, his neck slashed open, his cloudy eyes staring at something unseen. There was no blood from his neck, no blood anywhere. I covered my mouth in disgust as I realized what had happened and Charlie and Aiden looked at each other with hard looks on their faces. They knew.

"They know where we are…" I said looking around, getting the chills. I remembered the 'breeze' I'd felt earlier and shivered even more. It hadn't been a breeze at all, not even close, it had been a vampire.

"We have to tell everyone." Charlie said looking around quickly as if there might be something waiting in the corner of the room.

"No," Aiden said sharply. "That's the worst idea. It'll freak them out and people will get careless…they'll try to run."

Charlie and I looked at each other; Aiden only stared at the blood drained Craig.

_ Evening, Somewhere around December,_ _2034_

_ Dear Diary,_

_ I think the last time I wrote anything that meant something in this book was when we had first moved into the caves. I'd been seven? I can't even remember. I just reread my last entry, November 1__st__ 2025. Nine years ago. Well, honestly, I forgot about you and found you in my clothes trash bag when I was looking for a jacket and shoes to go outside in. We had to bury Craig – before anyone woke up and realized what happened._

_ It was the most disgusting, emotional thing I've done in a long while. I'd rather have gone a whole month without taking a bath than having to bury Craig over again. All I can say is that I wish it had been Jake, or do I? I can't decide. Do I wish he was dead, to at least know where he was, or do I wish he was alive somewhere where he'd be farmed for blood…? Dead, definitely. At least _then_ I would have closure. Now I don't know what to do._

_ Aiden's forbidden the very idea of me going after him and I know I should agree – but I don't. He's my only brother and the last family I have. I can't just sit down here in these dirty caves knowing my brother could possibly be alive, plus the vamps know where we are and they could be coming any day now. I don't know why they didn't finish everyone off in the first place. They took Jake and drained Craig? It doesn't make sense. I've been thinking about that…_

_ Maybe they'd been after the three humans that crashed their farming factory? If so, why didn't they take me?_

"Because you weren't asleep and in your bed like Jake and Craig had been." Charlie said behind me. I squeaked – I think it was supposed to be a gasp – and the book in my lap went flying.

"Don't _do _that!" I said hitting him in the chest. He just smiled down at me.

"It's good to be on your toes." He said, smiling his sarcastic smile. I just rolled my eyes at him.

"Did you need something?" I asked as I retrieved the old diary that had landed by my bed.

"Actually Aiden sent me to make sure you were here and not out in the evening sun looking for Jake." Charlie said making himself at home on Jake's bed. "So until we know for sure you're not gonna try and go for Jake," he said slapping Jake's pillow to make it fluffy, "I'm you're new roommate."

I smiled on the inside and almost laughed – but I held it in. Charlie knocked out around midnight and slept as hard as a rock. Not even an explosion could wake him, let alone a 17 year old girl sneaking out to save her brother…

We walked to the kitchen to find dinner a little while later. Charlie seemed totally at ease, as if nothing had happened and I watched him carefully. Aiden was already in there, drinking the remains of his soup. He glanced up when Charlie and I walked in and nodded to us in a serious, signal-type of nod. I just laughed openly and pulled the two aside.

I let Claudine and Sasha pass and they gave me a weird look. When you bury someone and tell everyone else Craig had gone out for something and you're clearly lying, do you look different? I might have well plastered 'found a drained Craig in his bed and buried him outside while everyone was asleep' on my forehead.

"Okay, people are gonna get suspicious with you two acting all James Bond'ish with the silent nods and stuff, plus when Jake and Craig don't come back from their 'outing', and speaking of that is that the best we could come up with?"

"Annie, if we told them what happened they'd freak and more people would get killed." Aiden said seriously.

"But if we stay here we're sitting ducks!" I protested a little too loudly that some people glanced at us.

"Annie you're just going to have to trust me." Aiden said seriously. He turned his back to walk off and I just stuck my tongue out at him. Charlie laughed and pulled me into the kitchen. We ate silently, me staring off into space.

Charlie and I walked back to _our_ room, I changed into my pajamas – they were really just short cotton shorts and a tank top – and as I climbed into bed I said, "I have to go after him, Charlie."

"I know," Charlie said getting comfortable in Jake's bed. I made a face he couldn't see.

"What do you mean 'you know'?" I asked propping myself up on my elbows.

"Annie, I've known you since you were seven. I know you can't stand hairy legs, you can go days without a shower and not notice it, you can run a mile in four minutes and that you have no idea how you got your 'gift' but that if you could you'd trade it in to be just a normal human girl trying to survive with everyone else." I chuckled a little.

"Then you know I'm scared to death of going after Jake." I said lying down and pulling the quilt up to my chin.

"But if you don't you'll feel like you killed him yourself. Annie I _know_ you. A lot better than Aiden does, clearly, because if he knew you, he would have sent someone to sleep in your room that would actually stop you from going." And with that Charlie started snoring and full on night came upon us.

It was around midnight. I was up and I didn't know what I wanted to do. I was outside, sitting next to the cave entrance, my legs pulled up to my chin and my head laying on them. _I just need fresh air_, I told myself, but I was fully dressed so that meant my subconscious knew exactly what it wanted – and it was more than just fresh air.

I was halfway to the jeep when I heard something. Just a simple leaf moving got me jumping. My heart was racing and I nearly yanked the door off its hinges as I jumped in. It made that sighing sound and didn't start.

"Oh come on!" I yelled and hit my head on the steering wheel. "Don't be stupid," I muttered to myself. On the third try the car finally started and I had to be careful not to put on the headlights. I didn't even know if vamps drove? Why would they need to? Crap.

I drove and about five miles out of town I parked the car behind a bundle of trees. The night was chilly and I stood outside the car for about ten minutes till I made myself push forward. _I'm here; let's do this, for Jake. _I thought to myself

I didn't start running until I saw the first building come into site, then I was in every shadow looking everywhere. Surprisingly, I found the farming factory fairly quickly. Apparently you remember things when there's a traumatic event not too long before at the same spot.

Inside the lights were on. The front door was glass and I could see in. There was a small red haired vampire at the reception desk. She looked utterly bored. Like any human receptionist she was reading a magazine that was a 'Vampire Worlds' and a very handsome Leonardo DiCaprio was on the front. Who'd have thunk? If anyone looked as good as a vamp, it was sure Leonardo. I almost laughed but I quickly remembered why I was there.

I was hidden in the shadows across the street. The farming factory was in a deserted part of town, probably to keep the temptation away from the vampires. My heart was racing as I crouched behind that dirty dumpster. The building looked very normal from here.

The phone rang inside and I nearly hit the dumpster. I clasped my hand over my mouth and sighed. I was way too jumpy for my own good. I glanced over the top of the dumpster and saw the receptionist stand, and walk into a door behind her desk. Looking around I saw no one, and there wasn't anyone else in the front room.

"It's now or never." I muttered to myself. "Go Annie." I said and I booked it towards the door. Slipping through the glass doors I thought my heart would jump out of my throat. I knew where I was going and I knew where I needed to look first.

Thankfully the conference room and the farming room were empty – except for the humans of course. I hid in my spot I'd been last time, looking through the half wall that was made of glass scanning the humans. I found a section that looked a lot less old and skinny and figured this was the 'newly' found humans brought in for farming.

There were only eight that looked 'fresh' and I sighed when I didn't see Jake.  
"Jake, where are you?" I asked myself looking around to figure my next move. Now I had to get back out. What the hell was I thinking? Coming after Jake? For all I knew he was already dead and now I was too.

I was about to make a run for it when the door opened and as I dived under the tarp and boxes, two people walked in, one was a vamp the other was Jake. Jake looked exhausted, his eyes drooped, and his skin had been cut in more than one place. My eyes trailed to his neck and it took all my strength not to sigh in relief. He didn't have any fresh bite marks – they hadn't bitten him recently, they had during our first escape on a few days ago.

"Now either you answer our questions, or you'll end up like the rest of them!" The blonde vampire woman said cocking her chin to the farmed humans.

Jake just stood his ground, glaring at the blond vampire. I recognized the vampire. She was the one that had attacked Jake a few days ago, and I'd shot her in the back. She'd tried to block our escape last time.

"Do you think they're protecting them?" A deep voice asked; it was so close to me that I almost jumped out of my skin. Glancing around without making a lot of movement I saw the second vamp. He was tall – from what I could tell, he was leaning against a wall. He had dark black hair that met his shoulders – though it looked totally non feminine – and he had ice cold blue eyes that were staring at Jake. His skin was the pale like most vampires but he looked very…ahem…good looking.

Before the whole world ending thing, vampires had this stereotype of being gorgeous, every single one – thanks a lot Stephenie Meyer – but that's totally not the case. Vamps look almost like they do when they're human.

This vamp – Mr. Tall-Pale-And-Handsome – would have been the gorgeous hunk back in his day-in-age. He looked like one of those guys on the cover of the romance novels, except for the fact that he was a vamp. But hey Leonardo is on the cover of 'Vampire Worlds' so I guess anything's possible.

"I'm not stupid." Jake said glaring at the dark haired vamp.

The blonde one laughed like a hyena – though it sounded too pretty to be one, she must have been the princess back in the medieval times – and said, "Could've fooled me."

"Pamela, be nice." The dark haired vampire said though he didn't sound like he really cared. She stopped laughing slowly and leaned against the glass.

"Now, _Jake, _who was the girl in the back of the car with you?" Blondie asked, crossing her arms over her…well endowed chest.

"Girl?" Jake asked giving them a blank look. I smiled.

"Perhaps, your girlfriend? She was a small little thing, your daughter? No, no, you're too young for that." She asked ignoring his question. Jake didn't move, only looked bored and exhausted. I'd wondered how long they'd questioned and tortured him. He didn't look too terrified so he must have figured they wouldn't kill him. The question was, how was he so confident they wouldn't?

"His sister." The dark haired vampire said without looking up. He was looking at the farmed humans with a bored expression on his face. Jake's head shot up.

"Ding, ding, ding we have a winner!" The blonde said, her eyes lighting up.

"You leave my sister alone!" Jake said shooting up. "She has nothing to do with this!" The blonde vampire grabbed Jake around the neck and held him up so his feet dangled. Her face twisted with anger and amusement.

"Listen, you little _human, _you're little…_sister_ is the only other human that heard about our pill. I don't think you're stupid enough to tell anyone else, am I right?" She asked him as his face started to drain of color.

I stayed hidden, but just barely. I instantly thought of Doc or Aiden. Surely Craig had told Aiden, I'd told Doc and he'd heard it from somewhere before me. Hell, the whole cave could've heard about it. Why didn't they just take everyone then and there?

"Why did you only take me?" Jake asked struggled to say, as if reading my mind. That caught the two vamps off guard. They looked at each other and the dark haired one shrugged as if to say 'go on'.

"I've tasted you." The blonde said setting him back down on the ground. He gasped and breathed in and out raggedly.

"And…" Jake asked.

"You taste…" Blondie stopped and gave Jake a long look, "pure." She said shrugging her shoulder and going to stand by the glass.

"Oh great." Jake said sarcastically, massaging his neck softly.

"You don't understand." The blonde said staring out into the farming facility. "I've tasted every single person in there and I've never tasted blood so sweet, so clean."

"Well I've lived in the caves ever since I was eight, so that makes me drug free and a virgin, that's as pure as it gets around these parts." Jake said and Blondie rolled her eyes.

"It's more than you can even imagine." She said. The two vampires head's jerked up. They both looked past the door we'd all come through and Jake looked around.

"What?" Jake asked, "What is it?" The dark haired vamp looked at the blond and gave her a serious look.

"Stay here." He said and he was gone, a little breeze hitting me in the face, the same breeze that had hit me the night Jake was taken and Craig was killed. The blonde vamp never took her eyes off the door, and if she'd been a dog her ears would've been perked up.

Jake was still and watched as well. We were like that for ten minutes. The blonde watching the door, Jake looking around the room slowly; and me crouching with a cramp in my leg.

Jake was surveying the room as if he was looking for something. His eyes stopped not two inches from my hand and I followed his careful gaze. The end of my family bracelet was uncovered. He moved his eyes slowly, without catching the blonde's attention and he met my eyes. His nostrils flared as he saw me. He looked…angry.

_Of course he's angry. You came after him and you knew that was a stupid, dangerous thing to do. _My subconscious said. I shook my head slightly and nodded toward the blonde. He blinked twice because a nod would've been too obvious. But the blonde had seen him looking at something.

"What?" She asked whirling and I didn't move. Movement she would catch, my bracelet, she wouldn't. "Wha-" The door was kicked open and another blonde young woman barged in. She was about average height with a curvy body and clear tan skin. She had gray green eyes that were intent and looked scared. She was wearing what I'd normally wear, jean shorts and a white tank top.

_Jeez, it's like attack of the blonds,_ I thought crouching lower. But she was different…she was human and she had a gun. She fired it five times before the blonde vampire could pounce. The blonde vampire lay wounded on the floor, bleeding. I'd never seen a vampire bleed, and it wasn't normal, it was like thick black goop.

"Where is she?" The human asked looking directly at Jake.

"Who?" Jake asked looking taken aback.

"Annie! You idiot! We need to move! Where is she?" The blonde asked, turning away from the door and aiming the gun at the dark corridor. Jake ran over to my hiding spot and yanked me up.

"Jake stop! You idiot! You don't know what they are or what-"

Jake covered my mouth and gave me an exhausted look. "They're a hell of a lot better than vamps, sis." He said and pushed me forward. The blonde waved us forward to follow her and we did so. We didn't pass any vamps which I was relieved of.

We made it to the main reception area and I nearly threw up. There was blood everywhere and bodies lying on the ground. "Paulina! Come on!" A deep husky voice growled. A dark haired man – human – was at the front door, holding it open, pointing his gun wherever there was movement.

The blonde human ran past me and I saw her smile at the man at the door – if you could call him that, he looked maybe in his early twenties. Jake was beside me and we followed her out the door. The dark haired man kept his really blue eyes on me but I didn't hesitate, I kept running.

I saw a black SUV not three yards away. The blond girl – Paulina – had already jumped in the back and the driver revved the engine. I crouched a little and made a jump for the back seat and something hit me. Of course something hit me, not once could I just get out my first attempt.

It felt like getting hit by a 200 pound linebacker but times a million. I hit the concrete with a crunch, and I knew I'd broken something. It didn't matter, two seconds later it was as good as new.

My view was obstructed by a large, dark figure. He was on my chest and I couldn't breathe. I tried to shove against him but he didn't move. "Annie!" I heard Jake's voice only barely. The figure moved slightly and I could see his face in the moonlight.

"Craig?" I asked but he bent down as fast as light to my neck and I felt the stabbing pain. I screamed a blood churning scream and kicked and hit him. Nothing did any good. I started to get light headed and my kicks led up, and my screams became small whimpers. And in that moment Craig was off me.

I lay on the cement, unable to move, unable to open my eyes. I could feel my blood pooling around my neck, could feel the cool night air rushing past my face. Something picked me up and I was in warm arms. They set me down in the back of the car and slammed the door. I opened my eyes and looked around hazily. I couldn't see much but I knew one thing. Jake wasn't with us.

"Jake," I whimpered, sitting up. A hand pushed me back down but I pushed against it. "Jake," I said again, not caring about my neck, it was healing already. The SUV's windows were tinted from the outside so no one could see in, but I could see out. And I caught a glimpse. Jake was being pulled away, his face pale, his body limp, still he put up a fight. He kicked and yelled but only barely. His eyes followed the car I was in. I could read his lips. He was calling my name, but I couldn't hear him.

I looked at the vampire holding him and she seemed to sense me. The blonde vamp smiled a cruel smile at me, her fangs showing, her hands found Jake's neck, his eyes closed with his long lashes brushing his cheek with exhaustion, as he knew the fight was over. She contorted her muscles with the lightest strength as holding a feather and I could hear Jake's neck snap from the backseat of the dark SUV.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three:

The room smelt like cheap beer and stale crackers, how would I know? It smelled exactly like my Great Uncle Carl. I was lying on a very uncomfortable bed, a thin blanket pulled up to my stomach. I looked around and saw that I was alone. Looking around the room I did a double take. "I've been here before." I said out loud, as if saying it in my mind would make everything go fuzzy.

The sound of my own voice was kind of like a pinch to let me know I wasn't dreaming I actually was in an old…hotel room. But I could swear I've been here before. But the last hotel I stayed in was at Disney World when I was six and a half.

The room was set up the same as back then, two double beds, a big wardrobe that had an old TV inside, dresser drawers, and a small bathroom. I took advantage of the bathroom and found to my great surprise that the showers actually worked. Taking a hot shower was almost enough to make me overlook the entire fact that I had no idea where I was and that Jake had been…

"Oh. My. God." I said out loud, as I was curled up in a white towel. I closed my eyes tight and pushed away the memories of…was it last night? I can't even remember. It felt like I'd been asleep for days, maybe the past 10 years had been a bad nightmare and I was still seven years old and I'd open the curtain that separated the bathroom and the room to find my family asleep.

I threw the curtain aside and did actually jump back and hit the floor. There were three people in the room but they sure as hell weren't Jake, Mom, Dad or Mary. "Jesus Christ!" I yelled, clutching the white towel to me.

"Actually I go by Paulina." The pretty blonde girl from last night said smiling at me and lighting up a cigarette.

"Paulina, don't be a smart ass." An unfamiliar man said. He was sitting where I'd been sleeping. He had dark brown hair smooshed under a dark brown beanie and had sunglasses pushed up to rest on it.

"Can't help, it's hereditary, _Uncle_." Paulina said smartly and smirking at her own joke. I would've laughed too, it sounded like something I would have said, if I hadn't been so totally freaked out.

"Told you guys we shoulda let her rest a little longer. Look at her, she's completely freaked." The dark haired young man I'd remembered from yesterday as well.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"She speaks!" Paulina said smiling and standing. She was wearing jean shorts again but with a tight pink tank top, her straight blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. "You're at the happiest place on Earth." She said sarcastically. I looked around the room and it clicked.

The reason everything looked so familiar and related to Disney was because it _was. _We were at Disney world. I almost laughed, but still I still couldn't seem to do anything that was emotionally triggered.

"What are we doing in the French Quarter?" I asked looking around, clutching the towel closer to me – I was suddenly very aware of my nakedness in a room full of complete strangers.

"We thought, since the world was ending and coming all the way down from Colorado, we'd stay at a place that held so many dear memories to us. Guess it's a little run down since..." Paulina said looking around the room where the walls were covered with unknown substances, the glass in the windows so dirty they were pitch black, though it was probably daylight outside. "Since the whole vamps taking over thing…"

"Where the hell am I?" I snapped, seeming to come into reality.

"Oh, well," Paulina said looking at the other two.

"Take her to get some food; I'll get into the kitchen." The dark haired man said now just looking at me. He had the bluest eyes I'd ever seen and I couldn't look away from them.

"Okay, go and get while Annie gets dressed." Paulina said plopping down on the second double bed I hadn't been using. The two men walked out the door, the one with a beanie seeming to go with ease, the dark haired one glancing back at me. I casted my eyes downward when he looked at me.

"Don't mind Dimitri." Paulina said flipping through a magazine, the same one the red headed receptionist had been looking at yesterday. I looked around self consciously and started to go for my clothes in the bathroom when Paulina said, "You can borrow some of mine. In the drawers there, we look about the same size." She said not looking up from the magazine.

Looking in the drawers I picked out a pair of full length brown, cargo pants and a dark, royal blue tank top. I put on my underwear from earlier and my bra, brushed my dark reddish brown hair into a ponytail and tied on my tennis shoes.

"I'm guessing you've been here before?" Paulina asked as we walked out the door and into the sunny late afternoon – I could tell by the heat.

I nodded, "Right before the Revelation."

Paulina snorted, "The Revelation? More like the We're-Screwed-Elation," she said. We were in one of the rooms near the food court. Everything was a lot bleaker than the last time I'd been here. All of the buildings had weathered the worst and the dining hall had windows missing and holes in the wall and graffiti. "We have to keep everything beat up, so it doesn't tip off the vamps that we're here."

"How many of you are there?" I asked as we stepped into the food court. There were tables turned over and chairs everywhere, the door to the many kitchens hanging off their hinges.

"Here? Thirty, more or less." She said, pulling up a table and handing me a chair. I gave her a questioning look and she sighed as she sat in the chair backwards. "We're originally from Colorado, in small remote mountain cave – which I hear is the popular human hideout." She said fixing me with a hard stare.

"I wouldn't know," I said lying. She laughed a little.

"I like you Annie, you've got…" She looked me over again. "Spunk." I snorted loudly.

"How do you know my name?" I asked, crossing my arms on the table and leaning forward. She opened her mouth to say something but something caught her attention behind me. The dark haired young man came up behind me and set a plate of scrambled eggs, toast and bacon in front of me. I think my mouth was watering, but I dug in too quickly to really remember.

The eggs were a little rubbery and the bacon a little fatty but I wasn't complaining. I hadn't had bacon since…a really, really long time. Paulina watched me with a questioning look. "What do you eat in the caves? Bugs?" she asked watching as I shoved the bacon into my mouth. I just shook my head to her answer. "Could've fooled me." She said rolling her eyes. She looked expectantly at Dimitri. "What nothing for me?" She asked rather taken aback.

"If you want something, go get it yourself." The dark haired man said simply, sitting in the chair like she had, backwards still facing me. Paulina made a face at him and stood, walking into one of the kitchens.

I finished the rest of the food and would have eaten the plate too if Dimitri wasn't there. He held out his hand. "We haven't officially met, Dimitri," he said.

"Annie," I said shaking it tenderly. His hand was warm, smooth and tan, the veins visible through the top.

He let go of my hand and just stared at me. It was a little discomforting and there was a loud crash in the kitchen and a string of profanities following. Dimitri chuckled a little and I raised my eyebrows. "Paulina is one of a kind. Most everyone else is pretty much sane." He said glancing back at the opened kitchen door.

"That's more than I can say for my…people." I struggled to find the right word to describe the remaining humans living in the caves. "How did you find me?" I asked suddenly, looking at Dimitri. His dark sapphire blue eyes held mine.

"That's something I can't share," he said looking down at his hands to keep himself busy. "At least not at the moment."

"Really?" I asked laughing a little in disbelief. "There may be less than 100 humans left in the entire world and we're keeping secrets from one another…?" I asked crossing my arms over my chest.

"It's not exactly my secret to tell." He said taking my plate from me. He walked to the kitchen door and I followed – having nothing else to do. He kicked open the door and called 'heads up' and threw the plate. Paulina made a guttural noise and some more profanities. "Paulina! I'm leaving her with you; don't bring her to the meeting." Dimitri said not glancing back at me. I glared after him but he was gone quick, through the door hanging off its hinges and gone around the corner.

"I'm not some puppy that needs to be taken care of." I muttered to myself.

"Ah, but you see, to Dimitri, you are, at least thanks to four days ago." Paulina said behind me. I jumped a little then looked at her questioningly.

"Four days ago?" I asked.

"Yup," she said walking past me. "You were asleep for four days, almost five." She headed to the door casually, looking back when I didn't follow. "You coming or what?"

"Where are we going?" I asked, catching up with her.

"The meeting." She said simply as we strolled into the early evening. The sun was slowly descending on the horizon, giving the sky an orange, red feel with clouds the same shade. She walked fast for a small thing.

"But Dimitri said I shouldn't come." I said catching up with her.

"Well Dimitri isn't the boss, and you're part of us now." She said smiling.

"Paulina, I have to get back –" I started but caught myself. She turned around and made me stop, almost meeting my eye level – I'm not too terribly tall myself.

"I thought you said there were no caves." She said smirking.

"There aren't." I lied rather well. She chuckled a little, turned and pulled open the double doors to the lobby of the French Quarter, a large building that had connected to the food court once, but now as I followed her into the full lobby did I see that the hallway had been blocked off.

I also saw new faces. I stopped too look around the lobby, looking at the once beautiful lobby was now gray, old, dusty with everything turned over. People started turning the things that were useable to sit on back over and perched, all of the facing the front desk. People stopped and stared at me and I stared right back. I hadn't met knew people since the caves were still new and humans were still showing up.

"Annie," Paulina said pulling me along. Most of the furniture was now right side up and everyone was taking a seat. Paulina pulled me into a seat somewhere in the middle, in the middle of everyone – probably so Dimitri couldn't spot us right away. People talked casually, make small conversation and I glanced around.

"You see that man sitting next to the little blonde girl?" Paulina whispered to me, pointing to a very handsome, rather familiar looking man…

"Johnny Depp?" I asked looking at him closer. "My Mom used to watch his movies weekly. She loved him. I thought he'd be dead by now, if not by vampire, by age. What is he now? 70? He sure doesn't look it."

"Yup, turns out he's a pretty down to earth guy, his movies are misleading." Paulina said, smiling at him. "The girl next to him is his daughter. She's like 20 something now. She's a beauty." Paulina said with a little jealousy.

"What's his story? How did he end up with…"

"The Prophets." She said smiling.

"You have a name for yourselves?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"Annie, we don't just survive, we go down hunting." I didn't get it clearly because she cleared her throat and bent down a little. "We hunt vampires." She whispered.

"Are you mental?" I whispered rapidly.

"Annie," she said almost laughing. A large man with stubble on his face, and a pot belly hanging over jeans and a t-shirt stood up at the front and everyone went quiet. "I'll explain later." She said, keeping her attention on the man up front.

She laughed at me and elbowed me in the side. No one sat by me and that was fine, I liked observing. Paulina had no one sit next to her either. "Why are we loners?" I whispered to her.

"Well for one, you might as well be an alien, and I'm kinda…scary. I don't know, people seem to dodge me if they can help it. I'm too much for anyone to handle." She said shrugging it off. I laughed a little. She could have been Charlie's twin. A pain in my heart sharpened when I thought of Charlie. I missed him and he probably thought I was dead.

We got a few annoyed looks from people who were listening to their 'leader. Paulina just made a face at anyone and tapped on the person in front of her. She whispered something in their ear and sat back with a pad and pen in hand, she started to scribble, smiled at her note then passed it to me.

Okay, you see the strong blonde in the row next to us, sitting with the other guys? He's a former college football quarterback, only 18 when the REVELATION He's so strong, you should see him during a hunt. Holy crap I nearly fainted when he took his shirt off.

I smiled and took the pen from her.

I still think you're mental, you know? Hunting vampires, that's like asking to die.

She frowned at my note.

It's not like it's exactly our choice, Annie.

I gave the note a questioning look then looked up at Paulina.

Not your choice, what do you mean?

Paulina was about to keep writing when the door opened behind us and everyone glanced back. The girl was blonde, but a completely different blonde from Paulina. This girls' hair was curly and dark. She had big green eyes with a hazel ring around the iris and skin with freckles across her nose. She was wearing long brown cargo pants that were tucked into combat books that came up half her calf, but also with a long sleeved green shirt that almost made her look like a human tree.

She glanced around the room and then her eyes came to rest of me and she froze. I couldn't decide if she looked scared, angry or sad. The meeting was adjured then – I hadn't heard a single word, neither had Paulina.

Suddenly Dimitri was behind us. "I told you not to bring her." He nearly growled.

"Well you are not in the position to tell me what to do." Paulina said.

"How many times have I saved your ass?" Dimitri snapped.

"More than I can count. That counts for nothing. You are not my father."

"Ah but I am," The 'leader' from earlier said, walking up to us.

"You are not my father, Uncle." I was confused for almost a minute. Earlier she'd said her Uncle was the man in the beanie hat. But then I realized quickly it is possible to have more than one Uncle.

"I'm the closest thing you will have, Polly." He said. "And if anything should ever happen to me, Dimitri will take over leader as the Colorado Leader."

Paulina sneered and looked at Dimitri. "What are you, 26?" She asked sarcastically. The leader looked at me with a smile on his face.

"You must be Annie," He said holding out his hand.

"I must be," I said politely taking his hand.

"Well welcome to our humble abode. Call me Jeb, I'm the leader of this here group. Make yourself welcome whenever and stay as long as you like. I know Paulina would like the company, Dimitri even." Jeb said glancing at Dimitri

Dimitri ignored him and glanced at the girl who'd just walked in. He cursed in a language I did not know.

"She shouldn't be here." He said and I thought he meant me but he was still looking across the room at the blonde girl. _Man this guy's got a problem with just about everyone. _I thought bitterly.

"You cannot hide your sister forever. Now it's getting near night, we need to get to the food court for dinner and lock up for the night." The Jeb said, clapping his hands to get everyone's attention. "It is nearly 5 o'clock and the sun sets at exactly 6:15 tonight. We need to be in our rooms in lockdown before that time." He smiled at me and started the trend for the walk towards the food court, where I'd just come.

Paulina walked with him so I shuffled to catch up with her. We walked out the doors and I caught a glimpse of Dimitri walking away, his hand on the arm of the blonde girl. She didn't look quite that upset, but Dimitri looked furious. She glanced back and caught my eye contact. It would have been polite to smile, but there was something about her that seemed almost, familiar. We stared at each other until Dimitri turned the corner, pulling her along.

Paulina hadn't seen my little staring competition, so she was completely oblivious. The sky was orange now, the sun descending closer towards the ground. We walked back into the food court that was now full with about 30 people, most of them getting in line and coming out with a plate full of a casserole look-alike.

Paulina and I got in line and an older woman handed us plates. "Thank you," I said because Paulina hadn't. The woman was maybe in her late 40's. Her hair was a white blonde with gray strands in many places; she had wrinkles in the corner of her eyes and small lips. She smiled at me and nodded politely.

Paulina led me to an empty table somewhere near the corner of the crowd. The casserole ended up being tuna casserole with a piece of bread on the side. It smelled delicious and I could help but drool a little. I hadn't had tuna casserole since before Mary had been born. It had been Jake's and my favorite. Again I could almost feel the knife in my heart when I thought of the people I loved – more so for Jake because it was so recent.

Paulina watched with amusement with amusement as I stuffed my mouth full of the casserole. She ate, but barely, her mind was elsewhere I could tell. "Paulina, explain." I said in between bites. If she wasn't going to eat then she didn't have an excuse not to talk.

She sighed and looked around slowly. No one was listening to us, but a few people were still staring at me. "You have to promise you won't freak, okay Annie? Remember we saved your life and intend no harm." She said slowly. I was a little taken aback. I nodded my head for her to continue. "We're not all…" she sighed and closed her eyes. "…human."

"What do you mean?" I asked in a low voice so no one would overhear.

"What I mean is we all have the mark."

"What mark?" I asked.

"An angelic mark." Ten years in the caves, with many books stolen I'd had a chance to research and read to my heart's content. I knew what she meant.

"The mark of an angel?" I asked, doubt in my voice. "So what does that mean?"

"It means we get our order from the Big Man one way or another." She said simply. "As I said before, it's not a choice to hunt vampires, it's an order." I've never been a religious person – honestly I never even believed in God – so it took me a second to comprehend that 'the big man' was God, and that he really existed.

"But that's a death wish, _the Big Man, _is sending you to your death wish." I argued. Paulina smiled a little.

"Annie, we don't go in shooting blind. With the mark comes some…privileges. But no two are the same, it's kind of wicked really." She lowered her voice. "You see Johnny over there, he's immortal when he hit the age 42. That's why he looks exactly like he did back then."

"So he can't die?" I asked glancing at Johnny who was sitting with his daughter and another middle-aged man.

"Not unless God commands it." I almost scoffed, but I didn't. If Paulina believed in that I wouldn't say anything offensive. They were her own beliefs and it wasn't like she was trying to force me to give myself up for Christ.

"His daughter actually can read minds." She said, again, envy in her voice.

"What about you?" I asked looking away from the once world famous movie star to Paulina.

Paulina smiled a little. "Now, you see, I like mine. I have like this extra sense for violence – go figure – and I'm very handy with a gun, or sword, or about anything that can be used in combat. Don't go asking Dimitri, cause he'll deny it, but I've whipped his ass more times than I can count." She said with a triumphant smile. "that why it was me, who had to come in looking for you. Some other people 'round here are pretty handy with a gun or stake or sword, but I'm the best." She said again with another bigger smile.

Then it hit me. How hadn't I asked this before. "How did you know where I was, or who I am?" I asked with a serious voice. Paulina looked up at me and met my eyes but she sighed.

"It's not my secret to tell." She said, saying the exact same thing Dimitri had said a few hours earlier.

I sighed, knowing that was the best I was going to get for the moment. "Why doesn't Dimitri seem to like me?" I asked in pure curiosity, taking another bite of the casserole. Paulina laughed a little.

"Dimitri doesn't like anyone at first. You saw how he treated his sister. I think he's just really protective, I mean there used to be a side of him where you couldn't go anywhere without giving him a hug. But he's a big softy, he just doesn't like to admit it." She said smiling at the memories. She looked at me as she came back to reality. "Finish up, we need to get back to the room for lockdown." She said, shoveling the rest of her casserole into her mouth.

I did the same and sighed a little when it was all gone. We threw our plates in a big bucket that was sent to the kitchen and before we went we had to turn our table and chairs over on its side – for show. We walked back to our room – which wasn't too terribly far – as the sun was halfway gone.

Paulina opened the door and called dibs on the bathroom. I kicked my shoes off near the other pairs that were on the floor under the dresser. "You can take Dimitri's bed! I doubt he'll be sleeping hear tonight."

"You guys share a room?" I asked curiously.

Paulina came out of the bathroom, wiping her hands on her shorts. "Yea, he's my cousin and Uncle Jeb made us so…"

"Your Uncle is the 'Colorado Leader'?" I asked jumping on the bed that was made up – Dimitri seemed like the type of guy that would make his bed, and Paulina wouldn't.

"Originally it was my dad." Paulina said kicking off her shorts and pulling on some long gray sweatpants that had a high school logo on it and 'track' written up the leg.

"How old were you when all this started?" I asked just kicking off my pants and climbing into bed. Under the covers I unhooked my bra and threw that with the pants in the corner.

"Fourteen, I was a freshman in High School, as you can tell from my pants." She said gesturing to the word freshman I'd missed.

"You a good runner?" I asked, sitting up and crossing my legs.

"The best." She said smiling. I laughed a little.

"I wouldn't be so sure." I said giving a smile of my own. If I could be proud of one thing it would be my speed. I beat everyone in the caves by far. If I had ever gone to high school, I'd have been on varsity track my freshman year, I know it.

"You pretty good?" She asked turning off the bathroom light and jumping onto her bed.

"You could say that." I said smiling. There was a knock at the door and Paulina opened it. I couldn't see around Paulina or the door.

"What?" Paulina snapped, standing stiffly in front of the door.

"Let me into my own room." I heard the familiar voice say. Paulina rolled her eyes and moved aside. Dimitri walked in giving me a once over in his bed, in my underwear and tank top – no bra. Now, I've said earlier that I didn't mind walking around like this in the caves, that is mainly because I grew up in the caves and I knew the people there and they knew me, our personal bodies weren't much of an issue. Right now, for the first time in a long time, I felt uncomfortable.

"Go sleep with Jeb or even Mary, I don't care." Paulina said walking back to her bed. Dimitri scoffed and walked towards the bathroom.

"Jeb said I had to stay with you two and I would hardly want to sleep with Mary." Dimitri said as he turned on the shower. Paulina rolled her eyes.

"Well, I'd rather share a bed with you Annie that Mr. Buzz-Kill." Paulina said moving over to the left side of the bed. I jumped off Dimitri's bed and sank into the empty side of Paulina's. She turned off the lamp that was on and the room pitched into darkness, except for the sliver of light coming through the curtain to the bathroom. The sound of the shower was almost as soothing as Jake's snores.

I woke to the dark room, my bladder screaming at me. Of course it was, I hadn't gone to the bathroom in days, and when I had been awake, I was too absorbed in my new surroundings. It was still night outside, I could tell by the goose bumps on my legs. My feet made a soft thud against the carpet as I made my way to the bathroom.

I plopped down on the toilet, still half asleep, the sound of me peeing was a little loud in the silent room and that had be a little tense. I didn't flush because I didn't want to wake anyone up. The tile was cold, my eyes half open as I headed back to bed. I bumped into something outside of the curtain and nearly screamed. There was a grunt and I fell back.

My butt hit the tile, my hands breaking my fall. "What the," I heard a deep voice mutter. I sighed a little in relief – it was just Dimitri. I'd almost completely forgotten about him. He flipped on the bathroom light and my cringed back from the sudden bright light.

"Oh, it's you."He said glancing down at me.

"Wow thanks," I muttered.

"Why didn't you turn on the light?" He asked rubbing his eyes.

"Habit, I don't have the luxury of lights where I live." He scoffed and I tried to stand. He held out a hand for me and pulled me up. I hadn't touched anyone since I'd gotten hear, so I'd almost completely forgotten about my healing power. Dimitri almost dropped me and I saw his eyes fling open, and his skin seemed to glow now.

I didn't notice before how tall Dimitri was. He wasn't like giant, but he was at least 6 '2', whereas I was 5 '5' on a good day. And right now he was shirtless, if I thought I'd seen all there was I was kidding myself. Dimitri was pure muscle, a 6 pack and all. He was tan with a hint of some color I wasn't familiar with, or its heritage. It wasn't American.

"What did you do?" He asked, letting go of my hand quickly. I also forgot, no one here knew about my 'power'.

"Nothing," I said quickly walking past him. "I need to get back to the caves."

"I will take you at first light." He said without hesitation. I just nodded. I knew he wanted me gone. I was just a stranger in his little world of angels. I lay down beside the sleeping Paulina, her eyelids fluttering from her dreaming state. I smiled a little. If she had been at the caves, we'd have been best friends. It hit me that she was really my only female friend. The girls back at the cave didn't like me, and here Paulina was sharing a bed with me instead of her cousin.

I'd dozed off when a large hand touched my shoulder. I lashed out. He dodged and caught my wrist. "It's me," Dimitri said, his large blue eyes keeping me calm.

"Is that supposed to be reassuring?" I asked sarcastically. He smiled a little, it was the first time I saw him smile and it looked good on him, made him look younger.

I changed back into my now clean clothes, throwing on my short brown cargo shorts and the tight pink tank top and white light jacket that had been blood stained last time I saw it. Then I remembered everything and my hand shot up to my neck. Of course there wouldn't be any mark left. But there was something I didn't expect. The skin from where the bite was, there was rough skin. That's the first time I haven't healed perfectly like it never happened.

"I'd say you've been around Paulina a little too long." He said in reference to my sarcastic remark.

"I don't have a mind of my own, and sarcasm comes with the package." I said grabbing a piece of paper from the notebook Paulina and I had used only yesterday. I flipped to an empty page and scribbled down a note:

Thank you for everything. I hope to see you again. I honestly can say I'll miss you. Try and not to be on Dimitri. He means well. Will miss you – Annie.

I laid the notepad closest to her as possible without waking her and smiled. I followed Dimitri out the door and closed it quietly. He lead me to the parking lot closest to us, two buildings over and pulled keys out of his leather jacket. A dark blue Chevy truck blinked it's headlights as it unlocked. He jumped into the driver's seat and I into the passenger seat.

He pulled out of the parking lot with ease and we drove down the road. "You have no idea where you're going." I said.

"Not in the least bit, but I had a feeling you would tell me." He said not glancing at me. I smiled a little.

"Can you get back to the building from, I guess, last week? I can guide you from there."

"Sure thing." He said and we were silent. Most of the ride was. After we'd gotten to the buildings I was tensed and even thought it was daytime I was unnerved. I told him it was about an hour drive to the caves and he had me pull out the iPod that was in the compartment in front of me and hook it up. Dimitri was a mullet-rock freak. We listened to AC/DC, Aerosmith, ZZTop, even some Motorhead.

We passed the spot I'd been hiding and then I saw the jeep. "Stop!" I said and Dimitri did so, very loudly.

"What?" he asked looking around, going for his pocket inside his coat – of course he'd brought a gun.

"You see that red jeep, I need to take it back to the caves. It's the only one we have." I said looking around at the bright day. Dimitri looked at me in disbelief.

"And you were just going to get out and jump in that car and drive it to the caves?" He asked me. I just nodded. He laughed in disbelief. "And _you're_ still alive." He said shaking his head.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked defensively.

"They probably did something to the car. Bugged it, maybe even put an explosive in it. It's not even five minutes from the building. They would have looked around for something anything out of place, and your car fit the bill." Dimitri said, starting the truck again.

"Fine, drop me off and I'll get in! If it doesn't blow up I can go home, if it doesn't oh well, goody for you, you'll never see me again!"

His knuckles went white over the steering wheel as he floored it towards the west, where my home was. "I'm not getting you killed. I saved your ass last week; I'm not ruining that now." He growled. I sighed. _Fine. _

The ride was silent, except the chorus of Highway to Hell blaring through the car. It was late afternoon by the time we turned off road and headed for another thirty minutes till we saw a large rock that looked like a crescent moon, and then another ten minutes till we found the tree that had this initials D&A carved into it.

Dimitri stopped the car and I was out running to the underbrush that covered a small hole, just enough for a heavyset man to crawl through. "Annie!" Dimitri called after me but I was already halfway in the hole and crawling for my life. I could smell the dirt and the sweat of my home. I pulled myself through ledge and jumped off, stumbling and falling.

I ran where I knew everyone would be at this time of day. There was no one in any of the halls or in the fields. I stumbled here and there and I nearly fell into the kitchen. The chit chat stopped and I heard some gasps. I heard chairs screech. Pulling myself up I looked around the room and saw faces I was surprised I was happy to see.

Aiden, Charlie and Doc were all standing up. Aiden got to me first and pulled me into a hug so tight I thought I'd suffocate. It ended up I was crying. I didn't want to let go of Aiden. His arms were around my waste, mine around his neck. He felt warm and I hadn't had a good hug since Doc. Aiden didn't want to pass me off but Charlie pulled me into another hug and I didn't want to let go of him either.

Doc's hug felt familiar and he pulled back all too soon for me. I looked at everyone and still everyone was still. "Annie what happened?" Charlie asked breaking the silence.

I sighed and pulled him into a hug. Charlie held me and I started crying even more. I heard footsteps behind me and Aiden and Doc were on the move. When I glanced up they both had Dimitri by an arm and he was down on his knees.

"What did you do to Annie?" Aiden screamed.

"Aiden," I choked into Charlie's chest.

"What did you do to her?" Aiden screamed again.

"Aiden stop." I said pushing away from Charlie. "Aiden he didn't _do _anything. He saved me. What can you say?" I snapped before I thought about it. Aiden blinked at me in disbelief. "Now let him go." I said harshly.

Dimitri looked up at me with his gorgeous eyes. He was breathing heavily from when Doc and Aiden had grabbed him. "Now." I said looking mainly at Aiden. He scrunched his nose like he did when he was mad and flung Dimitri away from him.

Dimitri stood quickly and stood beside me, still breathing hard. Aiden and Doc glared at Dimitri, Charlie looked spooked by my cry fest and everyone else in the room was standing, their mouth wide, sandwiches in their hands. "Welcome home," I muttered.


End file.
